She told Elliotts staff that she had arranged for a friend who lived near the accident scene and owned a garage to collect the damaged car.

The Sunday Mirror has established the crash happened on isolated Croxtie Green Road in countryside outside Brentwood, Essex, just before 3am on July 28.

But what makes the circumstances more unusual is that Tulisa did not contact the garage until almost 12 hours AFTER the crash.

A source said: “It’s strange that the driver waited more than 12 hours before contacting the garage. You would expect someone to call the police or insurers as soon as they could once they had an accident.”

An Essex police spokesman confirmed to us that at 9.40am on July 28 they received reports of an abandoned vehicle in Croxtie Green Road. They found the car before Tulisa contacted Elliotts.

(Image: John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)

But the authorities did not contact the garage until after Tulisa had done so.

The star insists she parked the BMW properly and arranged its recovery as soon as possible.

Meanwhile the police contacted the local authority to arrange removal but it had already been moved when Brentwood Council workers arrived at the scene on July 30.

During a conversation with Elliotts Tulisa apparently offered to pay the insurance policy excess direct but was told she should speak to her own insurers.

We are told that at this stage staff at the garage started to worry about who was going to pay for the damaged car, which they recovered to their Manchester base.

It was a write-off with a crumpled wing, smashed windscreen and rear window and other damage. The story then takes a bizarre twist with a man claiming to be acting on

Tulisa’s behalf turning up at the garage to demand her Audi back.We can reveal this man is a convicted killer who was jailed for five years after he beat to death a father of two in front of his family while he waited at a taxi rank.

The killer – who we are not naming – later had his sentence extended after he threatened revenge on a key witness who testified against him.

After being told the garage would not hand over the Audi until Tulisa arranged for the courtesy car to be paid for, the killer allegedly sent a message to a member of staff saying he wanted it “no matter what”.

The garage complained to Tulisa’s solicitors – who had got involved over the return of the Audi – about the killer’s approach. The criminal phoned to complain about his name being given and then claimed he had spoken to Tulisa, who had asked him to back off. A source said: “Although he did not issue any threats it was a bit intimidating.

“The garage did Tulisa a favour by lending her this courtesy car and not only does it get smashed up but some heavy then turns up demanding her own car back.

“When the garage later found out this bloke was a killer you can imagine how concerned the staff were.”

Tulisa denies instructing anyone to intercede on her behalf. It has also emerged that the man involved is a friend of a friend of hers who approached the garage without her knowledge.

Confused by the turn of events the garage was not keen to release Tulisa’s repaired Audi. But after contact from her solicitors it returned the car to a friend of the star’s.

The complex story emerges after Tulisa’s manager said he feared the singer was considering suicide after allegations that she was involved in a £800 cocaine deal.

Jonathan Shalit said Tulisa “thought her life was over” when she was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs.

He said at the Edinburgh international television festival: “She got to the point I was worried she would commit suicide.

“I made sure someone was at her house for two consecutive nights to make sure she did nothing stupid, because she was at that point where she genuinely thought that her life was over.”

Tulisa, who sang with London band N-Dubz, is on police bail and waiting to see if she will face charges. She denies any wrongdoing.

She has now apparently paid the garage the excess on her insurance policy. She also has her repaired Audi back.

The reasons for the Audi being vandalised and the facts behind the crash in the Essex lane are still unclear.

Her spokesman said last night: “In relation to this matter, Tulisa has behaved appropriately throughout and any allegations to the contrary are now in the hands of her lawyers.”